


First of Her Name

by Jaina_Pridemoore



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Crack treated... semi-seriously?, Fire Lord Katara, Fire Nation Lore (Avatar), In which Katara achieves the world record for most Agni Kais won, Multi, POV Outsider, Politics, Propaganda, Rumors, Southern Water Tribe, and literally everyone is stressed, haven't decided on the ships just yet, too many possibilities, various outsider POVs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27500095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaina_Pridemoore/pseuds/Jaina_Pridemoore
Summary: Collected accounts of the reign of Fire Lord Katara the Conqueror, the Rain After the Wildfire, Savior of the Fire Nation and Mother of the Hailong Dynasty.*Katara wins the Agni Kai. The royal family has messed things up so bad that the Fire Sages actually support her claim to the throne. Literally no one is happy about this, least of all the new Fire Lord. The world watches as they make it work anyway.
Relationships: Azula & Katara (Avatar), Hakoda & Katara (Avatar), Katara & Iroh, Katara & The Gaang (Avatar)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 67





	First of Her Name

**Author's Note:**

> Listen.  
> I know the whole starting-new-fics-while-the-old-ones-sit-around-unfinished thing is becoming ridiculous at this point. But fanfic is still mostly a writing exercise for me, I like to write things down while they're still fresh & vivid, and the hyperfixation is strong. 
> 
> After reading the (tragically few) other fics out there for this AU, I've decided to write it from the perspective of outsiders-- Katara's friends and family, yes, but also her subjects, enemies, counterparts in other nations, etc. Just people from all walks of life trying to get their heads around the new Fire Lord being a 15-year-old waterbender. 
> 
> Enjoy!

So.

Having the guy indirectly responsible for all the insane, emotionally-and-physically scarring shit your family has been through over the past year —who  _ also  _ happens to be the guy  _ directly responsible  _ for emotionally and physically scarring your favorite firebender— hogmonkey-tied and at your mercy? 

Seeing him reduced to a pathetic lump of impotent, mumbly rage and dawning fear as he  _ realizes _ he’s at your mercy? 

Deeply satisfying. 

Slap-me-I’m-dreaming levels of  _ weird,  _ but satisfying. 

Ignoring aforementioned pathetic Loser Lord in favor of your amazing, gorgeous, strong, deadly, _life-saving_ warrior girlfriend because you can _do that_ now? Sweeter than whalefat. 

Watching your friends decide to rest and recuperate for a few days  **_before_ ** going to find out if your little sister is still alive? 

Less than awesome. 

Realizing they’re  _ right  _ because the battle-rush has worn off enough for you to realize you’re basically one giant bruise wrapped around some bone fractures, everyone’s on the verge of passing out, and you have no idea what you might be flying into if you left right now? 

Bad. 

Failed invasion levels of bad. 

_ There’s a man in our house  _ levels of bad, for a few minutes there. 

So yeah. He may have freaked out a little. And… said some things. And probably set back the healing process a bit. 

New appreciation for Suki and Toph and Aang for not judging him for it. And, you know, for the cuddle-pile. Even if it  _ was  _ pretty sweaty and gross. 

Also, now he sees why Toph calls Iroh  _ Uncle _ . Dude gives pretty solid advice. On  _ top  _ of knowing the ins and outs of the Fire Nation even better than his nephew. 

It’s also just… nice, to have an older guy with them who seems to actually know what he’s doing? And who gets letters from mysterious friends, who tell him things like  _ Fire Nation troops are standing down and falling back across the continent.  _

So there’s that. 

And they  _ survived _ , three kids against a fleet! So— Katara and Zuko, crazy-stubborn, scary-powerful Katara and Zuko— they  _ must  _ be alright. 

Even though it’s Azula. 

Right? 

_ “There!” _

Aang’s voice does that carried-by-the-wind thing to be heard in the saddle, and Sokka jolts, which  _ really  _ doesn’t help the leg or the bruises, and leans out to see. 

_ More smoke!  _ he could say.  _ Just what I was missing in my life!  _

But it’s hard to talk with his heart in his throat. 

Capital Island is still just a dark bump on the turquoise sea, but the smoke above it… 

Well, it’s hard to judge. 

Sokka didn’t think they’d burned  _ that  _ much of Wulong Forest, but it still almost blocked out the sun. And this isn’t as bad! Just one plume of grey-brown smoke being blown to the north, dissipating as it goes. 

Smoke they have to fly into, to get to the Palace. 

_ Heavenly City,  _ Iroh called it. 

_ First Lord’s Harbor, Royal Plaza, Harbor City, Caldera City, Heavenly City—  _

Pale flakes of ash drift down into the saddle. 

“Here.” 

Iroh’s up on his knees, holding out a canteen. Fire Army standard issue. 

“For your scarf.” 

Oh. 

Sokka pulls the cloth off his neck and holds it out for the old guy to splash some water on. Then he re-wraps it to cover his nose and mouth… and pauses. 

“Iroh.” 

“Hmm?” 

“The Comet passed four days ago.” 

_ So why is there still so much smoke?  _

Iroh wets Toph’s scarf, and then Suki’s. “Much of Caldera City is made of wood,” he says. “Specially treated to be flame-resistant, of course, but with the Comet empowering my niece and nephew…”

_ “Four days ago,” _ says Sokka. 

Iroh nods. “It is possible that the outcome of their confrontation may have provoked some unrest among the people.” 

Sokka’s heart beats like a war drum against his ribs. “But— your contacts. Katara and Zuko must have won, right? Why would the Fire Nation be withdrawing its troops otherwise?” 

“I’m afraid I can only offer conjecture.” 

“So  _ conject!”  _

Iroh sighs. “You have seen what this Nation teaches its children. Our identity, our pride as a people, is wrapped up in this War— even as so many of us grow weary of it. There are many who will celebrate Ozai’s defeat, but Azula’s victories have made her more popular than he ever was.  _ Her  _ defeat, and the necessary work of ending the war, will certainly provoke some to act rashly.” 

Cool.

How many is  _ some???  _

“Of course,” says Iroh, looking ahead, “we may simply be witnessing the result of a warlike people celebrating a sudden increase of their powers.” 

Right. 

Nobody has anything to say to that. 

Soon that big ugly statue of Azulon passes below (too quickly to spit on, unfortunately), the Island growing fast, and Sokka can see— there’s no smoke coming from Harbor City. Only from the Caldera. 

Cool cool cool. 

“Avatar Aang!” Iroh shouts through the wind, “it may be wise to approach from a higher angle!” 

Right. Catapults. 

Appa angles up a bit. 

Toph takes Sokka’s hand, and squeezes. Sokka looks at Suki over her head. Suki smiles, but she’s in warrior mode, eyes sharp as her fans. Toph takes her hand, too. 

She’s been doing that a lot, since they took down the airships. 

Which, come to think of it... 

“A fleet, guys.” 

Suki tears her eyes away from the Island again. Toph’s head turns towards him a little. 

“We took down a whole fleet hopped up on Comet-power. If we can beat those odds, whatever’s waiting for us down there? It’ll be easy.”

He doesn’t think he sounds very confident, but Suki’s smile gets warmer, and Toph squeezes his hand again. 

_ “Here we go!” _ Aang shouts. 

Appa tilts downward. 

Sokka hooks his free arm through a loop in the edge of the saddle, and hangs on tight. 

The smoke and wind make his eyes water, but he squints through it, down at dozens of red rooftops divided by roads that extend like wheel-spokes from the pale ring in the center of the city, and in the center of  _ that—  _

Well, it looks like— a huge red  _ spike,  _ because  _ of course it does,  _ with three boxier building around it and wide stone steps between two of them, leading to a path that must be a  _ plaza,  _ really, if he’s got his proportions right here, and— 

“Are those  _ people?”  _ Suki says for him. 

Because that plaza is crowded. 

Sokka’s hands twitch, but he’s holding onto Toph and the saddle already and it wouldn’t even make sense to draw his replacement-sword yet— 

“Snoozles,” says Toph. “Wanna paint me a word-picture?” 

He glances at Iroh. 

Iroh’s in general-mode. If  _ he  _ wasn’t gripping the saddle, Sokka’s pretty sure he’d be stroking his beard. But he’s silent. 

“Welcoming committee in front of the palace,” Sokka says. “Big one. But…” 

Huh. 

“But they’re… not actually blocking the entrance?” 

“What?” 

“They’re lined up on either side of the plaza.” He looks at Suki, sees the sudden hope in her eyes even as the rest of her has that pre-fight stillness going on— 

“So...” Toph frowns. “Like a _ real  _ welcoming committee?” 

“...maybe.” 

It  _ could  _ be a trap, but  _ someone  _ ordered the troops to withdraw, and they’re almost below the rim of the actual caldera now, and no one’s launching flaming boulders at them— although, maybe they don’t want to risk messing the city up even more? Sokka tears his eyes off the welcoming committee to look around, sees huge, ragged patches of black amidst the red-and-white— 

_ “Iroh?”  _ Aang’s glancing over his shoulder, somehow really calm about this, and Sokka  _ really  _ hopes they don’t have to do a repeat of the Earth King’s Palace without— 

Shit. 

_ Yue, if you’re listening,  _ **_please_ ** _ put in a good word with Agni about my Sister. And Zuko! Even though that’s probably redundant, considering how much crazy shit the guy has survived—  _

Iroh nods at Aang. 

Appa levels out, and red roofs rush by below, and then they’re flying over the pale stone around the palace, close enough that Toph could probably make the jump— 

They slow down, high walls and watchtowers in front of them, still no boulders or arrows or fire— 

And then they’re in. 

Appa touches down halfway to those huge steps, and a sound rings out, and Sokka lets go of the saddle to grab the hilt of his replacement-sword before he’s even recognized it as— 

Wait. 

A gong? 

He looks at Iroh, but Iroh’s already up and climbing up out of the saddle way faster than Sokka’d expect from a guy that age. 

Aang jumps off Appa’s head— 

And the crowd  _ bows down.  _

Like, hundreds of people. Getting on their knees and putting their foreheads on the ground. 

Only the first row is in armor. Behind them are silk robes, and behind that are plain cotton tunics… 

This— this is good, right? Unless the robes are a feint and they’ve got knives under there like Zuko’s ex(?)-girlfriend, and— 

Toph jumps out. 

Suki grabs Sokka’s forearm and helps him up, arm and shoulder flexing distractingly. His makeshift splint clunks against the edge of the saddle as he climbs out, almost falls, catches himself on Appa’s fur— 

“Huh,” says Toph. 

He looks at her as soon as he’s on solid ground, sees her turn toward Iroh, who’s standing next to Aang in front of Appa— 

_ “Welcome!”  _

Movement up on the big stone steps. Descending towards them, but not fast. Walking-pace. Four— no, five figures, billowy red robes and pointy hats, like those guys at that one temple... 

It clicks as Suki hands him his crutch. 

“Fire Sages,” he tells her, and hopes she remembers more of Iroh’s briefing than he does, because he was  _ not  _ at his best when— 

_ “Avatar Aang, vanquisher of the usurper Ozai!”  _

Oh thank fuck. 

It’s the one in front— well, not quite  _ yelling, _ so this place must be built to bounce the sound around just right, something to revisit later for sure— 

Wait. 

_ Usurper?  _

_ “Prince Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe!”  _

What. 

_ “Lady Toph Beifong, Master Earthbender and Sifu to the Avatar!”  _

_ What.  _

_ “Commander Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors, Champion of the Earth Kingdom!”  _

Okay, damn right she is, but— 

“And General Iroh!” The guy comes to a stop at the foot of the stairs —which actually helps Sokka get a sense of their scale, and raises questions about the treatment of the Earthbenders they  _ must  _ have brought in to build them that big— “Welcome to the Heavenly City. We have eagerly awaited your arrival.” 

Okay. That’s good. Right? They’ve met Fire Sages that didn’t try to murder them before, no one’s throwing fire, people are  _ bowing  _ to— well, Aang, probably— 

Aang steps forward. 

“Phoenix King Ozai is no more,” he says in his Avatar-voice, loud enough that it carries through the plaza. “For his crimes against the Fire Nation and the world, I took away his firebending and surrendered him into the custody of Earth Regent Bumi. The War is  _ over.”  _

A murmur goes through the crowd. Sokka sees heads turning to whisper, and any other day he’s probably enjoy the sight of five hundred firebenders seriously re-evaluating their odds, but... 

“Indeed it is, young Avatar.” The Fire Sages bow from the hip, but don’t kneel, which seems like it’s probably important. “Thanks in no small part to the heroic efforts of your fire and waterbending Masters.”

Sokka’s heart full-on body slams his ribs. 

“You have done the Fire Nation a great service.” 

Alright. Time for answers. 

Sokka gets his crutch under his arm and swings it forward— 

Only to run right into Toph’s outstretched arm. 

“Toph—“ he whispers— “what—“ 

“Neutral jing, guys.” 

Hrm. 

It’s Iroh stepping forward now, bowing just as low as the Sages did and no lower. 

“Honored Sages,” he says, gravelly voice projecting easily, “We thank you for this most gracious welcome, and would be eternally grateful for any information regarding the health of Prince Zuko and Master Katara.” 

Sokka tries to focus on breathing right. 

“Of course, General,” says the Chief Sage. Head Sage? High Sage? “The battle was fierce, but all participants survived— though not unscathed.”

Sokka’s unbroken leg goes a little wobbly. 

_ Not unscathed?  _ What does that  _ mean?  _ Where—? 

Suki swoops in to put her arm around his waist and hold him up a little, because she’s amazing.

“Please,” says the Chief Sage, “allow us to escort you in, where the situation may be better explained.” 

Toph’s head turns, slightly, like she’s noticed something and is listening closer.

“I believe,” Iroh tells Aang, but just loud enough that they can hear him too— “that we should heed them.” 

Alright. Yes. This is why they brought him. And he’s not freaking out, so he must have reason to believe that Zuko’s at least mostly alright, and he’s not giving the rest of them any heavy looks, so… 

“Something unexpected has happened,” Iroh says quietly, “and they are unsure of how we will react, and the political ramifications of our reactions. This may be a conversation best had in… a more secure location.” 

“What?” just kinda slips out of Sokka’s mouth. “What does that  _ mean?  _ Where’s Katara? Where’s—“ 

“I’m with Uncle,” says Toph, voice flat.

His heart is doing the war-drum thing again. 

“Sokka.” Suki speaks quietly, close to his ear. “Breathe.” 

Right. 

_ We won.  _ **_They_ ** _ won. The troops withdrawing are proof of that. They probably just have some bumps and scrapes, like we do. These guys definitely aren’t just trying to draw us away from Appa into a more ambush-friendly area.  _

Aang meets his eye. 

Sokka swallows, and his mouth feels like he’s back in the desert, but he nods. 

Iroh starts power-walking. 

Sokka crutches along after him as fast as possible, which hurts more than just his leg, but he takes the possibility of cracked ribs, stuffs it into the same box as his curiosity about sound-bouncing architecture, and keeps on crutching. 

The chief sage guy said  _ all participants survived.  _ Katara is fine. She probably just has— a few little burns, or... a sprained ankle! Something that’d make it a pain in the ass to come out and meet them. 

Toph still hasn’t said anything. Neither has Iroh. He’s still walking like he’d be running if the Sages weren’t so old and slow. Sokka would be very much in favor of that, but he remembers Iroh saying something about how the Sages are the closest thing the Fire Nation has to Shamans, and— 

Iroh stops walking, and turns to the Chief Sage, who also stops walking to look at him. 

“Where are they?” It's not Uncle Iroh that asks. It's the General. 

This might be bad. 

For second there, the Chief Sage looks like Iroh just insulted his gran-gran’s cooking. But then he stares at Iroh for a minute, and his expression softens, and he says: “The royal infirmary.” 

Iroh picks up the pace. 

Suki looks at Sokka, takes his crutch, and makes him get on her back. 

Then keeps up with Iroh’s dad-panic power-walk, with Sokka on her back. 

He’s never been carried by a girl before. Apparently he’s been missing out. 

His heart is still beating really hard. 

_ Mostly unscathed.  _

Why didn’t they want to talk about it in public? Why did Iroh agree? Why did  _ Toph  _ agree? 

What  _ happened?  _

_ Why was this palace so stupidly large?  _

He hugs Suki a little tighter. 

She squeezes his thighs, and whispers: “Almost there.” 

They hurry through a huge, empty hallway, past all sorts of paintings and tapestries that are all probably really interesting, around a corner— 

A dozen skull-shaped faceplates turn to look at them. 

Sokka feels Suki tense up, tries to reach for his sword— 

And the guards all bow. 

There are two rows of them, lined up against either wall, and two at the end, uncrossing their curvy-bladed spear-things and stepping away from the riveted metal door between them. One of them taps his armored knuckles against it in a quick pattern. A slat slides open, and then shut. 

The door groans open.

Iroh is through them before Sokka can ask why an infirmary has a door that reminds him of the Boiling Rock. 

Suki’s not far behind. 

It’s a lot less prison-y on the inside— as big as the lounge of the Ember Island house but with less gaudy red hanging off the walls, sunlight streaming down through an eight-sided window in the ceiling, a single large bed up against the far wall, and in it—

_ “Zuko.”  _

Iroh’s across the room in a heartbeat, grabbing his nephew’ hand and probably trying to figure out how to hug the daylights out of him without further messing up whatever required all those bandages around his chest. And arms. And hands. 

Zuko’s too busy sleeping to answer. 

He… doesn’t even groan or shift around, not even as Toph rushes over to the other side of the bed and fumbles around 'til her hand finds his shoulder. 

There’s no one else in the room. Just the five of them, and an unconscious,  _ seriously fucking injured  _ Zuko. 

“Hey.” Suki’s letting him down off her back, turning around to cup his cheeks— “Sokka.  _ Infirmary.”  _

Yeah? 

“If she was hurt, she would be here.”

Oh. 

But then where—? 

“She’s probably resting. It looks like Zuko needed a lot of healing.” 

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. 

Sokka nods. 

“Lady Toph,” Iroh says quietly, looking up from where his hands are clasped over Zuko's, “can you tell...?” 

She frowns. “I’d need earth under him for heartbeat stuff. Sorry. Can you...?”

“Lightning.” 

Oh. 

Oh  _ man.  _

Sokka crutches closer to the bed, and sure enough, there are little pink squiggles radiating from whatever’s under the bandages. But the damage seems to be centered a good distance  _ below _ his heart, and his chest is rising and falling, so... 

“Sparky’s a tough guy,” says Toph. “And he’s made it this long. And he’s got  _ Katara. _ I’m sure he’ll… be…”

She tilts her head. Lets go of Zuko’s shoulder. Shifts her feet. 

“Wow, she is  _ really  _ worked up.”

Sokka isn’t sure his heart beat this fast during the airship slice. “She’s—?“

“Coming this way,” says Toph. “With guards. And… one of the Sages, I think?” 

It’s Iroh that tilts his head, this time. He’s got his General-face on, all of a sudden. “She walks freely? Unbound?” 

“Yeah.” 

Sokka’s unbroken leg almost gives out at the sheer relief of hearing that. 

“They’re... following her, actually.” 

He leans more onto the crutch. Suki puts her arm around his waist again. 

“Hey,” she says softly, “maybe you should sit for a while.”

“I’m good.” He puts his free arm over her shoulders, then realizes that came out kinda terse and rude-sounding, and gives her a squeeze. But he can’t take his eyes off the door.

Why  _ do  _ they have such a heavy door for their infirmary? Was it like the bunkers under the city, built in case of invasion? And if so, why were they okay with putting a window in the ceiling? 

Did sunlight help firebenders heal faster, in addition to just pumping up their chi? Katara had definitely said something about chi paths in relation to water-healing at some point, so that checked out. 

And he could kinda see how a ceiling-window  _ might _ be more secure than a wall-window— you’d have to climb all the way up an over to get to it, and there’d be more room for defenses and guards, maybe even some kind of defensive structure around the window... 

Toph moves away from Zuko’s bed. 

“What?” Aang asks. “What is it?” 

Clearly his huge, soppy crush on Katara is overpowering the whole Zen Avatar thing he’d had going on the past few days, because the kid’s  _ clearly  _ not feeling the neutral jing right now. 

Not that Sokka’s doing much better. 

“Nothing,” says Toph. “She’s just… talking to someone. Right outside. Now he’s bowing. Now—“

The door squeaks. Groans open.

Blue eyes, brown skin, a smile he knows better than the back of his hand— 

She looks tired, he thinks, as he rushes forward. 

_ “Sokka!”  _

It’s almost more of a tackle than a hug. They stumble and sway, and Sokka distantly hears his crutch clattering to the floor and smells some kind of flower but it doesn’t matter because she’s  _ okay.  _

Then she squeezes just a  _ little  _ too tight, and he remembers how freakishly strong she’s gotten recently, and also that at least one of his ribs is probably cracked. 

“Are  _ you  _ okay?” She’s pulling away, looking him over with wide eyes and  _ wow,  _ she  _ definitely  _ hasn’t been sleeping much if those bags are any indication— but he grips her arms to keep her close, and feels—  _ armor?  _

“Sokka, what happened—“

“Katara, why are you wearing—“

They stop, and laugh, and hug again, and he doesn’t even care about the stiff black-and-gold plates digging into him.

Well, alright, he cares a little. It’s a very un-Katara thing to wear. Where did they even  _ find  _ armor in her size? 

“Katara,” he tries again, pulling back just enough to look her over and see that yes, that  _ is  _ actual gold around the edges, there— “are you wearing  _ Azula’s  _ armor?” 

She gives him a really weird look, then. It’s worried, and tense, and— guarded? 

But then she’s stepping back from him to face the others, and they’re rushing forward to hug her—

And she’s holding up a hand to  _ stop _ them. 

Thankfully Aang is too worried for the kicked polar puppy routine. 

“Are you okay?” he gets as close as he can without running into her hand, wide-eyed and barely touching the ground— “What happened? Is  _ Zuko  _ okay??”

Toph didn’t need to tell them how anxious she is. Sokka isn’t actually sure he’s ever  _ seen  _ her this anxious. It’s like the Scroll Incident and the Southern Raiders Aftermath rolled into one, what… 

“He will be,” she says, clasping her hands in front of her, fingers twitching as she tries not to fidget. “I’ve been doing everything I can, but…” she looks down. “It was  _ really _ bad, guys. I had to…” She looks up again, glances between him and Aang and Toph— “We’ve been giving him poppy tea for the pain.”

Okay, evasive… 

“He woke up for little bit yesterday, but...”

She looks down again. Sokka’s willing to bet her shoulders would be all slumpy, if it weren’t for the very fancy, very familiar armor keeping her all stiff. 

“Wait,” says Suki, “yesterday?” 

Katara’s look of extreme nervousness increases. 

“The Fire Nation’s armies started withdrawing before that. If Zuko was still unconscious... who gave the order?” 

Katara looks past both of them to the bed, where Sokka assumes both Zuko and Iroh still are but isn’t sure because he’s having trouble looking anywhere but Katara’s exhausted but  _ living  _ face at the moment— 

And she’s... not answering the question. 

“You gonna tell’em,” says Toph, “or should I?” 

Katara’s hands sort of—  _ spasm,  _ almost, tensing and un-tensing and balling into fists.

Iroh’s voice cuts quietly through the silence. 

“Agni Kai?” 

Katara takes a deep, shaky breath, and nods. 

“Katara...” Sokka tries to pitch his own voice gently. “What’s going on?” 

“Fire duel.” 

Another cool rush of relief pours through him at the sound of Zuko’s smoky, familiar rasp. He turns, one hand on Katara’s rigid shoulder-pad to keep himself stable. 

Zuko winces as he props himself up on his elbows, ignoring Iroh’s efforts to keep him horizontal. “A fire duel. For the throne. Between me and Azula, but...”

“I didn’t know the rules,” says Katara. Her arms are crossed. She’s looking at the floor. Every word sounds like she has to force it out. “There were boundaries, like in an Earth Rumble. I ran into them.” 

“...which made you fair game,” says Toph. 

“It made her a  _ challenger.” _ Iroh’s voice sounds like it can’t decide between Uncle-mode and General-mode, which isn’t confusing and worrying at all. 

“Azula shot lightning at me,” says Katara. “Zuko— redirected it, but his stance wasn’t right, and—“ she stops. Takes a deep breath. Straightens up, and looks Iroh dead in the eye. “So I finished it. I subdued her. I won the Agni Kai.” 

Sokka’s exhausted, relieved-but-anxious brain starts to untangle the net. 

Troops withdrawing. 

_ Duel for the throne.  _

_ A challenger.  _

Guards and Fire Sages following her around. 

Armor that may or may not be Azula’s. 

“Wait,” he manages, and nothing else. 

Suki steps forward. “Are you saying—?”

Iroh steps away from the bed, gets down on his knees, and bends forward until his forehead touches the floor. 

“Thank you for saving my nephew… Fire Lord Katara.” 

This is about when Sokka’s brain stops working. 

**Author's Note:**

> Toph has the winning combo of seismic sense and familiarity with noble BS. "You gonna tell'em" may or may not be a bluff to provoke a response that'll narrow down her list of things that could potential be going on here.  
> Iroh definitely figures it out first, but he's preoccupied w Zuko and it makes more sense to let someone who's actually been around explain things. 
> 
> Whether or not I continue this depends on how interested people are in reading it, and how much serotonin I can leach from the comments.  
> I'm open to prompts & suggestions about interesting POVs to write from/scenarios to write about. The possibilities are endless


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